Foretravel Owners' Forum

I have a 1989 Foretravel. It has a 110 electric wire that comes from behind the passenger side and feed an outlet in the little desk under the window. Does anyone know exactly where and what breaker this is fed from? It is dead and wanted to shorten the learning curve in tracing it out. Thanks.

Curtis

Curtis,
Have you resolved this outlet issue?  How much knowledge do you have about electricity?  Do you have a multimeter of any kind?

Typically, to diagnose this type of problem we'd need to know the power to the other outlets in the motorhome.  Are these okay?  Have you tried to reset the 120VAC breakers, etc?
Peter

It could be a gfi that is tripped somewhere. You can check all gfi receptaacles and if equipped breakers

Curtis,
If your coach is like mine that outlet is on a circuit with a lot more things than just that one outlet.  If it's just that outlet I would suspect the wiring - especially the IDC (insulation displacement connector) outlet fixtures that are used throughout the coach.  Foretravel used these to connect together wires eventhough the outlet portion isn't required.  I have found several screwed to a wall inside a cabinet where the outlet slots were in accessable and facing against the wall.  That said, I have never had one fail

The source for that outlet on that window tables comes from behind the front TV, runs under the passengers seat and runs along the wall at floor level under the carpet - if I remember right.  They can't run the wire under the floor in the basement area because that's where the propane and fuel tanks are.  A noncontact voltage indicator would work well for tracing such a problem.

Curtis, I would start at the main breaker box to find the source for 110 on the Right side.  The main panel should be under the bed at the rear.  Check for a label first and then reset all the breakers.  If no luck Use a non contact BUZZER as suggested to trace out wiring.  Also there is probably one GFCI in the bath .  All the 110 circuits are usually protected by this device.
Good Luck
Gary B

Thanks everyone. I will be looking for it later on. I will get to the bottom of it. I am an electrician/maintenance at a local factory, and graduate of a cabinet maker school from Northern Illinois University. I was just trying to speed things up from a couple hours to a couple of minutes. I will pull the front TV out a use my Greenlee voltage "buzzer" detector on it. I have unintentionally used my "finger" tester for 26 years and it still doesn't feel good, but works every single time. :)) The electricity that excites the nerves goes straight to the brain and excites the nerves that make me say words that I normally am not accustomed to say. ;D

To all that helped,

I also had a problem with front tv not having power and the receptacle behind the co-pilot seat being dead. With the help of everyone here I traced it quickly to the GFI in the bathroom won't reset. I will test the GFI by getting a new one and installing it. If the new one trips, then I got some REEEEEAAAAALLLL troubleshootin' problems. In my 26 years as an electrician I have only seen one of these babies go bad and that was from bad contacts inside the switch. Of course, I can't get to these to clean them up without destroying the receptacle. I bypassed the receptacle temporarily to be sure it was the receptacle. The breaker did not trip, but I do not want to rely on the breaker, when the GFI will make me 100% sure. I have seen house fires where the breaker did not blow and it was due to a short in the wiring. The GFI is sure of good wiring on all three legs. If not. .  POW! I am a "crazy' believer in GFIs and their prices are worth the insurance of my life and those I love. I will get a new GFI before I go to work on 2nd this afternoon. You folks as always are great help. Because of the help I got here, what usually would take about two hours to find, I found that the GFI feeds other stuff in a matter of 5 minutes. Thanks for the help.

Still looking to find the make, model, and part numbers for reseal kits for the windows right next to the pilot and co-pilot windows. I rrreeeeaaalllly need to rebuild them in place. I would have to take the new front windshields. Yeah I know. Ya dummy why didn't you do it before installing the new windshields. Hindsight is a marvelous thing. Its that Foresight that I need. Hint Hint. "Fore"sight :))  That is what this ForeForums is "fore" "Fore"sight. Ok I'll stop. Thanks again. Oh yeah, I could not find any "weep" holes at the bottom of these windows like someone suggested. I thought there should be, but maybe not.

Curtis

Dear ForeTeam,

Sorry about not responding on this for a while. I work and go to school. Makes it tough to work on the RV. Here is what I have found out so far. After taking out the couch, bench seats, some drawers, and the plywood below the sink, I found that this wire then goes up to A GFI just to the left of the sink. There is a neutral, hot, and gnd, (romex) that seems to come down from above to the kitchen receptacle. When this romex, that look like they come from above, are out of circuit all the receptacles are hot and good to go. Put the neutral and hot in circuit the GFI in the bathroom blows. Does anyone know what this romex wire goes to? It isn't the convection oven to the left. It is on a separate circuit. Panel lights are on. Thanks for any help on this. I also sent an email to Jim in the service department at Foretravel.

Curtis

I think  the only 120V wires that go up to the ceiling in my coach go to the air conditioners.

Curtis,
I don't think that romex goes to the microwave.  The microwave should be on it's own dedicated circuit.  You can verify by looking at the panel under the bed -assuming the circuits are labeled.  It also shouldn't go to the A/C.  That too should be on a different circuit than the outlets.  That said (and assuming you are not the original owner) it's possible someone rewired that portion of the coach. 

Could it possibly go to an outlet that's on the bottom of the upper cabinets that you haven't discovered yet?

Curtis, I'm pretty sure the front window seals are from Hehr International in Newton Kansas. I bought some replacement seals several years ago for my 93 U225. I think I got them from Mike Grimes at Foretravel parts in NAC. I may still have enough to do your windows but I won't be back home for several weeks to see how much is left. I think the cost was under $100. I suggest you call Mike Grimes.

I bought a 2 piece circuit tester from Harbor Freight that injects a signal at one end. You use the half of the tool to see where it goes. Think they have them at Home Depot/Lowe's also. Worked well for me. Can also use on coax, speaker wires, etc.

See at: Circuit Breaker Detective (http://www.harborfreight.com/circuit-breaker-detective-96934.html)

Pierce

I do have one other 120V item on the ceiling and that is the light fixture above the kitchen table. It is controlled by a rheostat on the wall by the table and may go through the gfi wall plug circuit. It can be powered by my inverter so it is on one of the sub panel circuits like the gfi circuit.

ForeTeam,

Wow! Thanks for all of the help. I talked to James at FT and he said it may go to the power watch. I don't think so. It is on and working. Above that kitchen receptacle, where the "wire goes up," there is a plug in the upper cabinets, which goes to the convection microwave. My circuit "sniffer" buzzes so that is good. There is also a "boxed off" area where there is probably some wires. I will be looking in there this weekend and see where that goes. Again, thanks for your help. Prospecting is so much easier with people that have been there and done that. Mr. Speers. I called Mike Grimes and he gave me the number for Hehr and that they would be able to help me. Thanks to you too.

Curtis